ICN Editorial Board ​

Irvine residents and city officials came together, perhaps like never before, to oppose a proposal by the County of Orange to move hundreds of homeless humans to a tent city adjacent to the Great Park. Due to quick action and organized protest both online and up close and personal, the proposal was pulled off the table.  

Irvine should be congratulated for the victory, but let’s not go so far as to be self-congratulatory. Irvine’s reputation took a pretty big hit in the process. Many now view us as lacking compassion, as elitists and NIMBYs.  

Of course public safety, the protection of our children, families, schools, parks and playgrounds, takes precedence over public opinion. There’s no shame in being a NIMBY when your “back yard” is one of the finest cities in the nation, a place so many have worked so hard to make what it is today. 

But when moms, dads and teachers in Santa Ana, Orange and Anaheim said they wanted us to all know that they love their children, too, it struck a nerve. Those families have been dealing with issues of homelessness for decades. Let’s show them they are not alone. 

As regular readers know, we at ICN are avowed Irvine exceptionalists. We know how much Irvine already does for the disadvantaged in the city and the region. Still, we believe Irvine can and should do more. We can be a leader among the other 34 cities in the county, to take on the issue of homelessness, and provide solutions, not just protestations. 

Irvine can also say “yes.” 

If we’re going to volunteer, be asked, or court-ordered to do more than our share to help the homeless, we should do it the Irvine way. With a masterplan, intelligently executed, and by calling on the resources of excellence we have in the city: the business community, non-profits, educational institutions, civic leaders, and citizens. 

So what can and should we do? First, let’s make clear what’s off the table… forever. No tent cities in Irvine. No transients spending their days at the Orange County Great Park, near our schools, playgrounds or retail centers. No drug dealers with face tattoos riding stolen bikes to deliver contraband to the addicted. No predators.  

Not in Irvine. 

Fear mongering? Not so fast. We visited the Santa Ana River camps often, and that’s what we observed first-hand. But we also saw veterans who served their country, we saw families, and we saw folks who simply down on their luck.  

 So one of the things we’d like is some education on the nature of compassion—do unto others, and all that. We’ll work on that here; we hope you will in your areas of influence, also. 

But enough preaching—let’s get problem solving. Here are a few blue-sky ideas, some practical and some probably non-starters, on how we in Irvine can help solve the immediate emergency crisis, and how to address the issues that contributed to it long-term. 

First, any solution that involves the land adjacent to the Great Park should be predicated on the Board of Supervisors abandoning their ill-conceived plan to build a large and dense retail and condominium complex on the county-owned 108 acres that includes nearly 2,000 housing units and 1 million square feet of office space.  

That plan is currently subject to litigation; the Board of Supervisors should withdraw it, and the city should buy or otherwise obtain control over that land, perhaps by the county agreeing that city planning applies to projects on it.  

While the city should identify a location for both emergency temporary shelter and more permanent facilities in the city, if available, it should not be adjacent to the Great Park.  

We’re certain city staff, experts and others are already exploring suitable locations, perhaps in a vacant industrial tilt-up building in the less dense industrial sectors of the city, such as near the Tustin Air Base/Santa Ana border-adjacent areas of the IBC, or in the Irvine Industrial Complex East. These areas are relatively distant from parks, playgrounds and schools.  

With the right facilities, an indoor shelter seems much more humane than a tent city. What should be done with that land? We’d support using it as a housing solutions incubator. California is in a housing crisis, and not just for the homeless. Let’s streamline regulation and red tape on the county land, and let the city’s best and brightest architects, developers and housing advocates innovate. 

 Meanwhile, Irvine should redouble its support of nonprofits that serve the needy, both in the city and elsewhere. Our city is wealthy in talent and resources. Let’s start spreading that wealth around a bit more.  

Do the homes and shelters Mercy House runs in Santa Ana and Anaheim need support? Let’s offer it, be it financial or in kind. Does Teen Project have its eye on another potential College House in Lake Forest? 
​
The house is for five or six young women, 18-24 years old, who have “aged out” of the foster care system and are homeless or disadvantaged. They stay for about two years each, paying $200 a month in rent that goes in to a savings account returned to them when they leave. 

They have a live-in house mom for support and supervision, receive room and board, college support, paid job internships, an automobile obtainment program, and independent living education.  

We’d be YIMBYs (yes in my back yard) for services like these where we live. Would you? 
 
Having fought back the tent city proposal, let’s check some of our natural NIMBYism as more amenable, but possibly still uncomfortable, solutions arise.  

Here’s one: let’s help veterans. According to online CalVet statistics, Orange County is home to 112,449 veterans, including some 398 who are homeless. CalVet says 129 of those have shelter, while 269 do not.  
Let’s fix that first. 

One way is to use 20 acres or so of the Great Park land to build a Veterans Home. There are only eight in the state, and most are in Northern California. We’ve seen the large one in Yountville and a smaller, newer one in Redding, which should be the model in Irvine.  

It’s home to 154 residents, and sits on 11 acres of donated land. It took 18 years from the initial legislation to completion of the Redding home—let’s see how much better Irvine can do, especially with the CalVet approved Veterans Cemetery going in at the Strawberry Fields a mile or two away. 

Veterans age 55 and above and discharged from active military service under honorable conditions, are eligible to apply for admission. Residents engage in a wide range of activities, and “live in an atmosphere of dignity and respect—a true home for each resident veteran.” 

They enjoy comprehensive medical, dental, pharmacy, rehabilitation services and social activities within a homelike, small community environment.  

CalVet says the Veterans Homes “acknowledge the tremendous sacrifice California veterans have made, and recognizes them for their noble service to our nation.” 

Let’s do the same, right here in Irvine.  ​

ICN Editorial Board ​

“Booze beats exercise for living past 90, study says.”  

That’s how one of many hyperbolic headlines summarized a decades-long UCI research project.  

Called the 90+ Study, it has tracked the self-reported habits of Laguna Woods residents since 1981. The ongoing study has revealed that nonagenarians who toasted their health with two drinks daily were 18 percent less likely to experience a premature death than those who abstained. Those who took exercises every day (between 15 and 45 minutes) had an 11 percent lower risk and drinking two cups of coffee gave a 10 percent lower risk. 

“If in 1981 you were using alcohol, compared to people your same age who weren’t using alcohol, you lived longer,” Dr. Claudia Kawas, a UCI professor of neurology and neurobiology, said at an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in February. “I have no explanation for it,” Dr. Kawas said, “but I do firmly believe that modest drinking is associated with longevity.” 

Even if many digital scribes mischaracterized the results, perhaps failing to appreciate distinctions between causation and correlation, the research itself is fascinating. Who doesn’t want to live to 90 while enjoying a glass of good wine and 15 minutes of exercise a day?  

But what’s also is intriguing is how UCI’s scientists continue to do work that impacts our world in ways large and small, whether that research results in a flurry of media coverage or not. And as UCI’s faculty, students and staff strive to impact and improve the world, they make the city of Irvine a better place to live, learn and work in the process. 

Need another example? How’s this: do you like going outside for more than five minutes without burning your skin? If it wasn’t for the groundbreaking—and ozone layer saving—research of Nobel Prize-winning UCI scientist F. Sherwood Rowland, that’s what we might soon be experiencing.  

Hired to run UCI’s chemistry department, Rowland and a colleague discovered in 1973 that a chemical used in hair spray, aerosol deodorants and kitchen refrigerators was slowly destroying Earth’s ozone layer. Ozone is Earth’s natural sunscreen, absorbing most of the incoming UV radiation from the sun and protecting life from DNA-damaging and cancer-causing radiation. Thanks in large part to tireless advocacy by Rowland, the chemicals were banned in 1987. 

When Rowland was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry 21 years later, the award committee said that he may have “saved the world from catastrophe.” The American Chemical Society, the nation’s largest professional society for chemists, said Rowland’s discovery was one of the 10 most-significant advances in chemistry of the 20th century. 

Today, UCI is one of the leading research universities in the world. There’s no telling when the next world-changing technology or world-saving discovery will emerge from the Irvine campus, or what it will be. But we believe those breakthroughs will come. 

The stated goal of UCI’s Gavin Herbert Eye Institute is simple: ending human blindness. The $39-million center opened 2013 as the first building on the UCI campus to be funded entirely with local corporate, foundation and individual gifts. It’s a symbol of Orange County being known as the Silicon Valley of vision, drawing scientists, foundations and technology companies here, all fighting to beat blindness.  

If UCI helps cure blindness, it may be because of stem cell research. The school is an international leader in stem cell treatments for cancer, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, ALS, MS, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and spinal cord injury. 

UCI is home to the Advanced Power and Energy Program working on the development and deployment of efficient, environmentally sensitive, sustainable power generation and energy conversion worldwide.  
Environmental research at UCI addresses challenges of climate change that affect the globe, including issues of water scarcity that affect us in California. 

The importance of having UCI in the city of Irvine cannot be overstated, nor can the relationship the university has to the economic growth and vitality of the region. Some 100 startups utilizing 1,000 inventions and 600 U.S. patents have been born and/or incubated at UCI, with many of the companies establishing their first offices in Irvine. Other companies not born out of UCI, such as Broadcom, have strong relationships with the university. 

“Whether we pass on to the future the structure of a protein, stunning new works of art, the next version of the Internet, or a deeper understanding of the world’s religions, universities are where the best that has been thought, written, or discovered flourishes,” wrote Robert M. Berdahl, former president of the Association of American Universities. When UCI was invited to join the prestigious group in 1996, it was the youngest university ever to become a member. 
​
For many Irvine residents, education is the prime factor that drew us to the city. Jobs, safety, good neighborhoods and a vibrant economy are other reasons, to be sure. But education, whether to study for an advanced UCI degree or to put kids in an IUSD kindergarten class, remains a beacon that guides families and individuals to Irvine from around the world.  ​

By Bill Cook

This June, the good citizens of Irvine will decide whether to fulfill a promise to honor the service and sacrifice of U.S. veterans with a cemetery on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.  

A “yes” vote on the cemetery referendum means there will be a cemetery. A “no” means the promise will be broken. If the nay-sayers prevail, there likely will never be a final resting place for veterans in Orange County, and certainly not in Irvine. 

Let me be blunt: The June 5 vote is NOT an “either/or” vote on the location of a veterans cemetery, but rather a “yes/no” vote on whether there will ever be such a cemetery at the former MCAS El Toro.  

There is only one cemetery site. It’s on former MCAS El Toro land near the 405 and 5 convergence that’s known as the Strawberry Fields. It’s been approved by the city of Irvine, the state of California, including the governor, legislature and CalVet.  

Only two elected representatives, councilmembers Jeff Lalloway and Lynn Schott, are against it. They also voted against holding a special election on June 5. I believe that’s because they know that a majority of voters will support veterans and those who want a cemetery in the city.  
​
So for those who want a veterans cemetery in the city, VOTE YES. For those who don’t, vote no. After all, that’s your right as an American—one of the many rights veterans served, fought and died to protect.  ​

By Irvine City News staff

We have voiced our strong support for a veterans cemetery at the approved Strawberry Fields location on the former MCAS El Toro base for many months, in many different ways. The choice seems so clear to us, the politically motivated opposition so wrong-headed, that this issue we’ll give other voices a chance to speak. Here are excerpts from editorials, letters and opinion pieces published online, in the OC Register, and elsewhere.  
 
“It may surprise you, but there is no veterans cemetery here in Orange County. That’s not for lack of trying. Orange County veterans have fought and lobbied for years to create a local cemetery for those who have bravely served our country….But now a new and totally unnecessary obstacle has been placed in the way of our veterans cemetery. A group of individuals with a different agenda have decided to support an initiative that would stop the construction of our cemetery.  

“The most offensive and candidly disgusting part of their opposition is that they are saying they are supportive of a veterans cemetery. Just not this one. 

Those of us who fought for our freedoms are tired of waiting and tired of being prevented from being laid to rest with our brothers and sisters at home. We’re tired of being prevented from leaving this earth under the American flag—in our county. 

No one who has served would stand in the way of an Orange County veterans cemetery that is ready to be built, approved to be built and funded to be built. Stop the selfishness, stop the self-interest, stop the opposition and stop the initiative. Build the Orange County veterans cemetery now.” 

—Nick Berardino, committee member of the OC Veterans Memorial Park Foundation 

 
“Which is a more fitting site to honor those who sacrificed their time and lives to maintain your privilege to live in a free country: an unfunded, polluted, more expensive, hidden, and unapproved property, or one that is funded, not-polluted, less expensive, visible, and approved? 

You are doing such a disservice to the nation, the state, and the local community. Please stop wasting taxpayer time and money by stopping your petition efforts.”  

—Mike Padian, former Irvine Co. executive, in a letter to Larry Agran cc’d to media 

 
“This [Strawberry Field] site has the support of neighbors, veterans, the developer and a majority of the City Council. That is why the politics must end now. And it shouldn’t have been made a political issue or an election year issue in first place. It is about local veterans deserving an appropriate final resting place—and this is the place.”  
​

--OC Register Editorial Board  
 
“The current senseless battle over where veterans will be able to find their ultimate resting place is demonstrating that the very worst of political opportunism is alive and well in OC. But even more importantly, it is conversely providing a rare glimpse of the power of bipartisan action to do good….Both political parties overwhelmingly endorsed the same location for Orange County’s first veterans cemetery.... The governor supports the Strawberry Field location. So does the majority of Irvine’s City Council. A local developer, FivePoint, has pledged $10 million toward phase one of construction. The Orange County Register supports it. Most importantly, veterans carry the hope that this might actually be a place where they can rest. 

A small group of politically-motivated individuals are attempting to derail construction on the Strawberry Fields location by launching a misleading campaign to gather signatures claiming to ‘Save The Veterans Cemetery.’ Of course, the cemetery has been approved, dedicated and doesn’t need ‘saving’… 

On the battlefield, the men and women of our great military don’t fight under the banner of Republican or Democrat. They sacrifice their lives in defense of our American flag, under the banner of red, white and blue. 

​When they come home, they deserve to rest in a place that represents that same unity of purpose they brought with them in fighting for our nation. They deserve a place that’s close enough for their wives and children and grandchildren to visit, to reflect, to remember and to find peace. The current veterans cemetery location, widely supported across party lines, fulfills each of those obligations we owe to our county’s veterans.  

—Jennifer Muir Beuthin, general manager of the OC Employees Association  ​

​By Irvine City News Editorial Staff 

It was a beautiful, clear day as hundreds of U.S. military veterans gathered at the strawberry fields near the 405 Freeway to celebrate a flag raising and dedication of the approved site for a new veterans cemetery. 

The veterans of several wars gathered. Some arrived by car and motorcoach, others roared in on Harley Davidson motorcycles. Some moved freely, others used wheelchairs and walkers.

But those who could, stood and all saluted as the American flag was raised to fly next to those representing the branches of the military they had served in.

Nearly every elected official that serves the city of Irvine was in attendance, from mayor and city council members to members of Congress. All gathered to honor the veterans and their quest to be buried on the hallowed ground of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.

As those gathered listened to the speeches and saw the tears in the eyes and excitement on the faces of the veterans, they could be excused for thinking, at least for an hour or so, that the issue of establishing a veterans cemetery in Irvine had been put to rest, finally, allowing the honored veterans an assurance that within a few years they themselves would have a place to rest.

They shall. But not until they and their allies in the city, state and the nation have fought a few more skirmishes alongside them, and on their behalf.

Two of the politicians missing from the ceremony honoring veterans were Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Schott and Councilmember Jeffrey Lalloway. The duo voted against the land transfer which was approved and passed by the Irvine City Council, and which made the awe-inspiring afternoon in the strawberry fields possible. 

Also absent was former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran. As noted elsewhere in this issue, Agran is on the march. He’s filed a lawsuit against the veterans cemetery being located at the approved site. And he has turned in petitions in support of a referendum regarding the site of the cemetery. 

Those out gathering signatures in support of the Agran referendum told shoppers and citizens that the effort was to “save” a Great Park cemetery. That was the height of cynicism and political foul play.

There’s no doubt that the strawberry fields site is simply better for a veterans cemetery than the original ARDA site. As this publication has been writing for some time, all one has to do is visit the two sites and do a bit of reading to realize that.

Or read the CalVet report that came out in June 2016 estimating that the first phase of creating a cemetery at the ARDA sit would cost $77.4 million because that land is contaminated and includes 77 structures that would need to be demolished.
​
Should either the lawsuit or referendum advance, many say the cemetery will be stalled, perhaps indefinitely. And that would be the biggest loss of all for our veterans. 

By Jacob Levy, editor and publisher

Amazon is coming! Someplace, that is. We hope the company comes to Irvine.

Proposals from cities, states and regions across the U.S., Canada and even Mexico reportedly poured into Amazon in hopes of landing the company’s second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. 

The Seattle-based company says its HQ2 will bring 50,000 high-paying jobs and billions of dollars of new investment in whichever city it chooses, so it’s no surprise that some 238 proposals were submitted in response to Amazon’s request, including one dubbed One Click HQ2, touting Irvine and Orange County.

The process of seeing how well a place fulfills what Amazon is seeking makes for an interesting exercise in civic analysis and promotion, for those officially charged with answering Amazon’s query as well as those many in the media and other observers who opined on what place would best suit the parameters Amazon seeks.

 As the Harvard Business Review put it, “Amazon’s selection criteria, as described in the company’s request for proposal, sets out a compelling list of the attributes cities must have if they aspire to be a serious part of America’s growing digital economy.” 

That criteria includes much at which Irvine clearly excels, rivaling any city or region in the nation, including a strong research university, a high concentration of well-educated knowledge-based workers, proximity to airports and highways, and an inclusive and diverse culture. 

While reading the Amazon RFP and the list of civic attributes it sought for a host city, we were reminded of a similar list we read last year.

The piece in The Atlantic was written by Deb and James Fallows and titled “Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed.” It was a sidebar to a longer piece based on the writers’ 54,000-mile, three-year journey around America traveling by a single-engine plane. 
​
While writing the larger story “Can America Put Itself Back Together,” the authors “developed an informal checklist of the traits that distinguished a place where things seemed to work,” they wrote in the March 2016 issue of the magazine. So while others examined the Amazon criteria in Irvine’s proposal to bring the HQ2 here, we pondered how the city does in the Atlantic civic success test:
 
1. Divisive national politics seem a distant concern.
 
“Overwhelmingly the focus in successful towns was not on national divisions but on practical problems that a community could address. The more often national politics came into local discussions, the worse shape the town was in.” The story was written before the 2016 election, of course. But having been to several city council sessions since the election, we think it’s safe to say Irvine scores fairly well on this. In fact, at the recent session finalizing the new Southern California Veterans Cemetery, councilmembers and state representatives who spoke commented on how the discourse and decision reflected well on the city, in contrast to the turmoil in Washington, D.C.
 
2. You can pick out the local patriots.
 
“A standard question we’d ask soon after arrival was, ‘who makes this town go?’” We think a clear choice for Irvine patriot is quoted in this issue: that’s Bill Cook, the Marine Corps veteran who has championed the veterans cemetery issue that’s now settled: there will be one in Irvine. We also think the three civic leaders who came together to vote to make sure veterans have a cemetery in the city, Councilmember Christina Shea, Councilmember Melissa Fox and Mayor Don Wagner, have emerged as clear civic leaders in the city. The sad thing is that if you’d asked that question a decade ago, the person who made the town “go” was Larry Agran. Now, it seems he’s more interested in making important projects like the cemetery stop.
 
3. Public-private partnerships are real.
 
“In successful towns, people can point to something specific and say, this is what a partnership means,” the authors say. Well, that one’s easy. Irvine earns an A here. The original creation of the city’s masterplan, UCI, and the historic open space agreements were made possible because of partnerships with the Irvine Company. And today, schools in the Great Park Neighborhoods, the growing Great Park Sports Park, the Great Park Ice & Sports Complex and the FivePoint Amphitheater were made possible thanks to the partnerships among and between the city, IUSD, the Ducks and the Samuelis, FivePoint and Live Nation, among other partners. 
 
4. People know the civic story.
 
“Their value is in giving citizens a sense of how today’s efforts are connected to what happened yesterday and what they hope for tomorrow.” This one gets an “incomplete.” While most know about the original masterplan, the great schools and Irvine’s past reputation as a “beige” place, there seems to be the need for a unifying and forward-thinking civic story that helps connect yesterday and tomorrow across the generations and cultures who live here.
 
5. They have a downtown.
 
“This seems obvious, but it is probably the quickest single marker of the condition of a town.” Hmm. As much as we’d like to make the argument that we’re a post-urban place, an edge city without the need of a downtown, this one is still a work in progress. Perhaps in coming years the Great Park and Spectrum area will feel like our downtown. Right now, the Irvine Business Center is probably as close as we get. 
 
6. They are near a research university.
 
Well, that one’s easy: A+, thanks to UCI.
 
7. They have, and care about, a community college.
 
Ditto, thanks to Irvine Valley College, though perhaps we should care more about the excellent institution.
 
8. They have unusual schools.
 
“Early in our stay, we would ask what was the most distinctive school to visit at the K–12 level. If four or five answers came quickly to mind, that was a good sign.” Though reasonable minds might differ about which schools are most distinctive and “unusual,” the overall excellence sets Irvine Unified School District apart.
 
9. They make themselves open.
 
“Politicians, educators, businesspeople, students, and retirees frequently stressed the ways their communities were trying to attract and include new people.” Historically, Irvine has been a welcoming place to immigrants and newcomers, and that’s been one of the great strengths of the city. We believe it still to be so, and yet sense some friction to that welcoming spirit among the no-growth factions in the city.
 
10. They have big plans.
 
“Cities still make plans, because they can do things.” For this we only need look to the approved Veterans Cemetery and the vision for the cultural terrace, the growing Sports Park, and other aspects of the Great Park.
 
11. They have craft breweries.
 
“A town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur, and a critical mass of mainly young customers. You may think I’m joking, but just try to find an exception,” the writers say. Well, the exception may be Irvine. We are a bit lacking in this important category. There’s Backstreet Brewery at Lamppost Pizza, TAPS Fish House and Brewery, and Evans Brewing Co., which doesn’t have a tasting room in the city. Left Coast Brewing Company will open a new brewery and tasting room off of Sand Canyon in coming months, too.
We’ll know soon enough how Irvine measures up to Amazon’s criteria in competition against all the other entrants. Using The Atlantic’s test for civic excellence as a guide, we’re already a winner. We expect Irvine has a real chance at the Amazon HQ2, too. Now let’s build some more breweries! 

Irvine City News editorial staff ​

By Irvine City News Editor

By ​Irvine City News editorial staff

It’s officially the summer of 2017, and significant progress is being made toward fulfilling the promise made to the citizens of Irvine and Orange County: that a Great Park would rise on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.

The first 53 acres of the Sports Park opens August 5, with subsequent phases to follow. The FivePoint Amphitheatre debuts later this summer, and for three seasons will bridge the live music gap between Irvine Meadows closing and a permanent amphitheater being approved and built at the Great Park.

The groundbreaking for the $100 million Great Park Ice and Sports Complex was earlier this year, and work on what promises to be an incredible facility is underway.

And, most importantly, a final resting site for Orange County veterans was approved for the strawberry fields site, a beautiful piece of land that was once part of the MCAS El Toro base, and will undoubtedly be added to be within the official boundaries of the Great Park in the future.

Much still remains to be done, certainly. Most significantly a plan for the critical Cultural Terrace. But after an era of divisiveness and criticism about what’s not at the Great Park, let’s take time this summer to celebrate what is, and what’s soon to come.
​
Many of us have learned in life that great things take time. At specific moments a significant project may seem to be moving slowly. Progress may seem glacial, or nonexistent.

But later, we realize that in the grand scheme, the results were worth the wait.

Let’s take a quick review of the Great Park timeline, minus the controversies. The Marine Corps Air Station El Toro closed in 1999. Lennar bought 3,718 acres of the former El base in 2005 for $649.5 million. Some 200 acres were developed, including existing sports fields, the Palm Court gallery and the Great Park Balloon, Great Park Visitors Center, the carousel, playground, etc.

Over the next several years, significant funds were spent on design documents, pricey PR contracts, and other expenditures. Controversy ensued, the economy tanked, state redevelopment funds were eliminated, city elections were held.

In 2013, the Irvine City Council reached an agreement with FivePoint to develop 688 acres of the Great Park.
The groundbreaking of the 688 acres took place a year later during the “Runways to Greenways” event in 2014. Much of the initial work involved demolition of runways, buildings and other remnants of the base on the 688 acres, and the construction of underground infrastructure.

Now, this summer we’ll see the first fruit of the labor of the past three years, when the first phase of the Sports Park opens to the public.

One could argue (and since this is a space for opinion, we will) that more progress has been made on the Great Park in the past three years than in the decade prior to that.

A decade or two from now, when the Orange County Great Park is widely recognized as one of the most important urban parks in the country, few will recall the details we now obsess over.

Our proof? Studying the other great urban parks in our country. Most had their share of controversy, and took much longer to create than many might think: far longer than the Orange County Great Park.

The 3,000 acres that would become L.A.’s Griffith Park was donated to the city of Los Angeles in 1896. The city didn’t annex the land until 1910, the Greek Theater opened in 1929, the Griffith Observatory in 1935, the L.A. Zoo in 1966 and the Autry Museum of the American West in 1989.

The land for NYC’s Central Park was purchased in 1853. It took until 1873 for the original parkland to be substantially completed, but that was a much different place than the one we know today. Children weren’t allowed on the grass. Sheep grazed there instead. The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened at its Central Park location in 1880.

Robert Moses added 19 playgrounds and 12 ball fields to Central Park in 1934, after years of neglect had left the park in disrepair. Tavern on the Green also opened in 1934, as did The Conservatory Garden. The Great Lawn was added at the site of a former reservoir in 1936. One ice rink opened in 1949, the second in 1966. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum across from Central Park opened in 1959.

San Diego’s Balboa Park began when 1,400 acres of land for a city park was set aside in 1868. It took until the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition for most of the architecture the park is known for to be built, and for it to be renamed Balboa Park. The San Diego Zoo was established in 1916. What would become the San Diego Museum of Art opened at the park in 1926, and expanded in 1966. The San Diego Natural History Museum opened in 1933, the Old Globe Theatre debuted in 1935, as did the buildings around the Pan American Plaza. The new Veterans Memorial Garden was dedicated in 2005.

What do all those dates mean? That great parks take time. One could argue they’re never really finished, as subsequent generations make changes, improvements and add attractions.

Which is not meant as cover for our city council and civic stakeholders to take a century to complete the Great Park. But let’s take a moment to celebrate that something special is happening at our Great Park this summer.
We suggest Irvine citizenry get outside this season to see that progress for yourself. Visit the first phase of the Sports Park on opening day or thereafter, kick a ball around with your kids or grandkids, watch or play beach volleyball on beautiful sand courts, or pick up your tennis racquet and have a game at the new Great Park Courts.
​
The bright future of Irvine is dawning now, all around us, so let’s get outside and enjoy it.

By ​Irvine City News editorial staff

The case for creating the Southern California Veterans Cemetery at the alternate site where the strawberry fields now grow near the 5 and 405 freeways continues to build. State leadership is sending signals that the alternate site is the best option for Irvine. In a letter submitted recently, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva advised the council to think about spending the extra millions needed to keep the cemetery at the original ARDA site near Portola High School: “The decision is yours to make as to whether you will continue to expend up to $40,000,000 as your share or redirect those funds to other pressing needs in Irvine.”

Gov. Jerry Brown showed a preference for placing the Southern California Veterans Cemetery on land offered by FivePoint after his recent tour of both sites. “Obviously, I like (the) strawberry patch — ‘Strawberry Fields.’ Remember that song?” Brown said, as reported by voiceofoc.org.

The state has now articulated a position—and mounting evidence points to—the strawberry fields as the most favorable site when considering the cost, the location and the ability to start construction.

That’s not surprising to Irvine City News, because Brown and Quirk-Silva have now done what everyone should do who is interested in the issue: visited both sites for themselves.

Seeing is believing, as is so often said. We believe that objective observers who visit both sites will conclude that the alternate site next to the freeways where millions will view it is the proper place to honor veterans and their service to the country. They should not be tucked away in a corner of the city, where few but their relatives and friends will see their graves. Let’s not put veterans out of site and out of mind. Rather, let’s give them a place of prominence and honor, visible to all who visit our city.

In our last issue we published photographs of both sites. But getting a look in person is always a better option. When Gov. Brown visited our city, he referenced the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” One lyric in that song rings true: “Living is easy with eyes closed; Misunderstanding all you see.”

By seeing, really seeing the two options, perhaps misunderstandings about the virtues of each can be reduced. The ARDA site is closed to the public, but one can get a look at it from Irvine Blvd. near Portola High School, from the end of Chinon, the road right next to the high school, and from Bosque, the road that runs from Irvine Blvd. through the Great Park Neighborhoods.

For a bird’s eye view, we imagine the view from the Great Park Balloon would do well. Or simpler still, just pull up Google Maps, the satellite view, find Portola High School, and look up and to the left.

The alternate site is easier to see. Drive along Alton Pkwy., between Barranca and Technology Dr., or take the 405 north from the 5 at the El Toro Y. For the best view, drive to the end of Rockfield Blvd., just off of Bake. It dead-ends right into the fields. Walk up the berm (without actually trespassing, of course), and see the flat, open expanse of green fields for yourself.

Then ask yourself, all other things being equal, wouldn’t this be a better site to honor veterans?

Of course, all things aren’t equal. We laid out the facts about the two sites in our May issue. Here’s what we said in this space about the choice to be made by the city council, and the debate about the issue:

“After hearing the debate and weighing the options, Irvine City News strongly believes there is only one course of action: Accept FivePoint’s offer and move the cemetery from the ARDA site to the highly visible alternate site next to the 5 Freeway.

“This option will save the taxpayers millions of dollars, speed construction and delivery of the cemetery’s first phase, and remove concerns nearby residents and school officials have about proximity to the ARDA site.”

One of the most important things to come out of Gov. Brown’s visit is the very clear message that Irvine will be home to a veterans cemetery, at one site or the other. So hopefully any innuendo about the alternate site being part of some grand plan to eliminate a veterans cemetery from the city can be put to rest.

When the original ARDA site was the only option, that was the choice all supported. If city council chooses the original site, we’ll support that choice and join all in honoring veterans there. There will be a veterans cemetery in Irvine. We still think the alternate site is the obvious and best choice for its location.

The May 9 hearing that concluded the debate over Concordia University was a model of conciliation and consensus building almost completely lacking in ad hominem attacks and innuendo.
​
It’s likely the veterans cemetery discussion will be less polite. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s all do our best at the June 27 city council meeting (when the cemetery decision is expected to be made) to treat those on all sides of the issue with respect, and in so doing bring some decorum and reverence to the issue that’s so important to veterans and citizens alike.

​Editor's Note: ​Mayor Don Wagner and Councilmember Melissa Fox have called for a special meeting to vote on the cemetery location after learning that the state has allocated $10 million less than expected for the construction of the veterans cemetery in Irvine. The city council will vote on the site for the new cemetery on June 6 at 4 p.m.